This is an Introduction.

Hello, whoever might be reading this. My name is Taylor Brogan, and I’m a visiting student from the University of Chicago, studying English Literature in Edinburgh for the 2012-13 academic year.

It’s a bit weird introducing yourself to people over the internet, so I’ll stick with the essentials. I live in university accomodation – at 50 Blackfriars – and honestly it’s different than what I was expecting. The location is absolutely perfect; I’m sort of wedged between the Royal Mile and Campus, and nothing has been more than a 10 minute walk away. Scottish food is delicious and hearty, though I can already feel myself getting tired of haggis. Luckily, there’s a MASSIVELY diverse assortment of restaurants. I had a really fantastic (and cheap) Indian dinner last night on Nicholson, and I can probably list about 10 restaurants within five minutes of my flat that I’m dying to visit.

The only downside perhaps is that I’m pretty introverted, so it’s been hard to find people. Still, in only two days of living on my own, I’ve found a nice group of American exchange students to hang out with, and I managed to somehow get a bartending job right on the Royal Mile? I wrote up a CV and printed out a bunch of copies before I got on the plane to Scotland, and as soon as I got here, I just went from door to door, pub to restaurant to cafe, asking to see a manager and inquiring about any open positions. Of the maybe 15 places I went, half of those places asked for a CV and said they’d get give it a look. That night, a manager from one of the taverns sent me an email asking me to come in for a trial shift that night! This is all just to say that, as long as you put in the effort, it’s not impossible to get a job here. You just have to, you know…TRY.

It’s Sunday of Freshers Week, and I’m getting hungry, so I’m going to go out to a free Comedy + Curry event for Freshers Pass holders. (Free food, am I right?) Uhhh…so bye, I guess. Here, have some pictures!

First taste of haggis at Whiski Bar on the Royal Mile. Tasted kind of like Shepherd’s Pie, but with a….unique texture? IDK it was good. Oh, and the goat cheese tart from Whiski Bar is the best thing I’ve ever eaten and I want to marry it. Can’t recommend that place enough.

IT’S SO PRETTY HELP. I live right around the corner from this place and I can’t even get over it.

This is my face just FYI. My dad flew over with me and stuck around for about a week, so he took all of these pictures. I’m scowling in about 98% of them, but that’s just because he took SO MANY PICTURES. I am grateful, though, because now I have pictures of Edinburgh for your viewing pleasure. Neat!